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Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is a series he created, with 8 one-off dramas, the idea of which reminds me of Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, and is released two episodes per day from Tuesday to Friday this week.
That said, each one is introduced by the titular host, like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which ran between 1955 to 1965 – so, long before I was born – but were given reruns in the UK in the ’80s and ’90s.
First up is “Lot 36“, beginning with an old man shuffling around his flat in the late ’80s, when George Bush Sr is in power, before moving on to chopping meat in his kitchen… which is a bit too stressful for him, shall we say.
Cut to racist Nick (Tim Blake Nelson), who’s going to bid on a garage full of junk put in Lot 36, like an episode of Storage Wars. However, there’s more to his deal than meets the eye, and that’s not just down to the weird behaviour of the aforementioned original owner.
And since the guy was so old, I could question how could he carry so much junk to put in the storage unit in the first place!
Well, I can’t say what he does find, but there’s certainly something of great interest, and kicks the series off brilliantly. I loved that Nelson’s character was eternally sarcastic (but, obviously, nothing about the basis of his beliefs!), and although the episode does take some time to get the pay-off, it’s clearly building tension slowly, intentionally, and it works very well.
Safe to say, I was not prepared for what would be found within Lot 36, but it was pretty fucking cool.
The Graveyard Eyes is the second episode, and centres around Masson (David Hewlett), who robs from graves in the cemetery, but like Amicia and Hugo in A Plague Tale: Innocence, he has a big problem with rats, in this case, burying into the tombs before he can get there.
He’s rather in a spot of fiduciary trouble, so needs every penny he can get. The way things begin to turn out are ones I was not expecting… and that was, indeed, just the beginning!
There’s also elements of Hammer House of Horror. Yes, even based on these first two episodes, they feel like a modern take on the classics that studio would provide in their one-act dramas. And when it comes to The Graveyard Eyes and the rat infestation, it will probably give you nightmares for the rest of your life.
There’s great acting from everyone I’ve seen so far. I’ll certainly watch more, and I can see this becoming a regular Halloween fixture in the Netflix schedule.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from Friday October 28th.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 40-50 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: October 25th 2022
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.20:1
Lot 36:
Director: Guillermo Navarro
Writer: Regina Corrado
Story: Guillermo del Toro
Music: Tim Davies
Cast:
Nick: Tim Blake Nelson
Roland: Sebastian Roché
Lori: Elise Bauman
Thang Tu: Christie Trinh
Agatha: Martha Burns
Old Man: James Neely
Dottie: Lize Johnston
Auctioneer: Tony Munch
Acid Jeans: Elisa Bauman
Eyes: Bart Badzioch
Baseball Cap: Neil Babcock
Burly Bidder: Brad Borbridge
The Graveyard Eyes:
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writer: Vincenzo Natali
Story: Henry Kuttner
Music: Jeff Danna
Cast:
Masson: David Hewlett
Harry: Ish Morris
Corpse: Kevin Keppy
Dooley: Julian Richings
The Widow: Brigitte Robinson
Burton: Alexander Eling
The Priest: James Kall
The Queen Rat: Kurt Carley
Hans Overfist: Nabeel El Khafif
The Widow’s Son: Cory Bertrand
The Mourner: Megan Smith
The Coroner: Dean Buchanan
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.